At last night’s meeting with state officials in Tarrytown, someone handed me this flier that apparently has been circulating among residents.
The new group is called New York Residents Against New Tappan Zee or NYRANTZ, and it plans to launch a petition. But some of the claims on the flier are false. For example, the group says the Federal Transportation Department refused $2 billion requested by the state because the TZ is not a top priority. Not true. The Obama Administration has named the new TZ Bridge project for fast-tracking. NY didn’t get the loan it applied for because Congress still has to approve a bill that would put more money into that loan program.
It also asserts that “restoring the current bridge is our most affordable option,” but state officials have said current maintenance on the bridge costs $50 million a year.
1 Comment
You carefully pulled out 2 statements from the flyer;however,there are many more not subject to dispute.For example,New York’s population is decreasing(we just lost a seat in the House of Representatives,people are moving away).The new bridge will not increase traffic flow,since the Westchester and Rockland termini then narrow to 3-4 lanes once the river is crossed,nothing is being done to remedy this. The project is almost sure to exceed the 5 Billion dollar price quoted(See 287 project,at twice the projected cost,and still unfinished after 11 years).This will be a fiasco…and the construction workers who hollared the loudest at Thursday’s Town Hall Meeting may not even get any work,since jobs are doled out to the lowest bidder,and contractors and workers do not have to be from New York state.This requiresbold action to save the bridge we have now,using state of the art techniques and preventative maintainence…this would also provide construction jobs!